The 1960s File Feature
That Kind Of Woman
That Kind Of Woman: Merrilee Rush and the Pacific Northwest Soul SoundBy the late summer of 1968, the American pop charts were a genuinely democratic space, …
01 The Story
That Kind Of Woman: Merrilee Rush and the Pacific Northwest Soul Sound
By the late summer of 1968, the American pop charts were a genuinely democratic space, at least in the sense that an act from virtually any region could break through if the song was right. The coasts dominated in terms of industry infrastructure, but the music itself kept arriving from unexpected directions. Merrilee Rush was a Seattle-area singer whose profile in the Pacific Northwest was solid but whose national presence was essentially nonexistent when a particular single changed her situation with some speed.
An Artist on the Rise
Merrilee Rush had been performing in the Seattle area for several years by 1968, working with her band the Turnabouts and developing a reputation as a capable, emotionally direct vocalist in the pop-soul tradition. The Pacific Northwest had produced its share of rock and pop talent, and Rush fit comfortably within a regional tradition that valued strong singing and professional performance. What she needed was the right song and the right moment, and 1968 provided both. Angel of the Morning, the Chip Taylor-penned song Rush recorded that year, gave her a genuine national hit, reaching number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and establishing her as a nationally recognized name.
The Sound of That Kind Of Woman
That Kind Of Woman came in the wake of that success, arriving at radio stations in the late summer of 1968 with the benefit of audience familiarity with Rush's voice. The record sits comfortably in the pop-soul territory that was commercially productive in the late 1960s: a confident vocal performance supported by a competent studio arrangement designed to show off the singer's range and emotional directness. Rush sings with the kind of clarity and purpose that distinguishes a professional from a merely talented amateur; the emotional commitment is evident without spilling over into overstatement.
The Chart Performance
The single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 31, 1968, entering at position 89. Over the following weeks it climbed to number 76, peaking during the week of September 14, 1968, where it held its position. The record spent six weeks on the chart before dropping out. That run placed it firmly in the second tier of chart success for 1968, a real entry but not a breakthrough comparable to what Angel of the Morning had achieved. For Rush, it represented both the reward of established audience interest and the challenge of following a genuinely exceptional first hit.
The Difficulty of the Follow-Up
The position Rush found herself in after the success of Angel of the Morning was a familiar one in the music industry: the pressure of the follow-up, the question of whether the audience's interest would extend to a second and different record. That Kind Of Woman answered that question with a modest but genuine yes. It did not replicate the earlier single's impact, but it confirmed that Rush had an audience that would follow her to other material, which was a meaningful commercial finding in an industry that was always looking for evidence of durability.
A Snapshot of a Particular Moment
Heard now, That Kind Of Woman sounds like a confident piece of late-1960s pop-soul: well-sung, professionally produced, emotionally honest without being overwrought. Rush's voice is the record's primary asset, and it carries the material with the ease of a singer who knows exactly what she is doing and why. Press play and you hear a voice that deserved more of the attention it received, doing exactly the kind of work it was built for.
"That Kind Of Woman" — Merrilee Rush & The Turnabouts' singular moment on the 1960s charts.
02 Song Meaning
That Kind Of Woman: Self-Knowledge, Pride, and the Late-1960s Feminine Voice
In the late 1960s, the pop landscape was in the middle of a slow but genuine expansion in how women were represented in popular song. Alongside the traditional love ballads and the familiar narratives of romantic longing, a different kind of female voice was beginning to assert itself: more self-aware, more declarative, less concerned with pleasing and more concerned with being recognized accurately. That Kind Of Woman participates in this shift, however quietly.
The Declaration in the Title
A song called That Kind Of Woman establishes from its first syllable that the narrator is defining herself on her own terms. The phrase is categorical: a statement of identity rather than aspiration or apology. The woman being described is not asking for permission to be who she is; she is informing the listener of a settled fact. This kind of self-possession in pop song was not entirely new in 1968, but it was becoming more common, as female artists and their audiences began to claim more space for complexity and confidence in the music they made and bought.
The Pop-Soul Idiom as Vehicle
The pop-soul sound that Merrilee Rush worked in was well-suited to this kind of declarative lyrical stance. Soul music had always made room for women who were direct about their emotional reality, who knew what they wanted and said so without apology. The horns, the rhythm section, the confident vocal delivery: these are not the sonic markers of uncertainty or supplication. They are the markers of someone who expects to be heard and taken seriously. Rush's voice occupies this space naturally; there is an assurance in the performance that matches the lyrical stance.
Identity in the Era of Change
The late 1960s were a moment of genuine flux in American social life, and that flux was registered in the music of the period in complicated ways. For women specifically, the period saw the early stages of what would become the feminist movement of the 1970s: a growing challenge to the roles and expectations that had previously defined acceptable feminine behavior and self-presentation. A pop song that defined the narrator with precision and pride, that claimed a particular kind of womanhood as something to be acknowledged rather than explained, participated in this cultural conversation even if it was not explicitly political.
Merrilee Rush as Voice of the Northwest
Part of what makes Merrilee Rush's recordings interesting is the slightly different angle from which she approached the pop-soul tradition. Coming from the Pacific Northwest rather than the major industry centers, she brought a slightly less polished, more direct quality to her performances that served the material well. There was nothing calculated about the emotional register; it sounded like someone who meant what she was singing. The six-week chart run, peaking at number 76 on the Billboard Hot 100, reflected an audience that recognized that quality and responded to it.
The Song's Quiet Persistence
Decades on, That Kind Of Woman reads as a modest but honest piece of pop songwriting from a year when modest and honest were themselves meaningful qualities. It does not overreach; it simply states something clearly and lets the music make the emotional case. That combination, lyrical directness plus vocal commitment, is as functional now as it was in 1968.
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